First full day on-scene as NTSB urges against speculation into PSA Airlines crash

January 30, 2025

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has promised to “leave no stone unturned” as it commences its investigation into yesterday’s fatal mid-air collision in Washington, confirming that nobody on board the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 or the military Sikorsky H-60 survived the accident.
Speaking during the Board’s first press briefing since yesterday’s accident, Chair of the NTSB Safety Board Jennifer Homendy promised to “conduct a thorough investigation of this tragedy, looking at the facts” and assuring a “all hands on deck” investigatory approach would help reach a conclusion of probable cause. With NTSB senior aircraft accident investigator Brice Banning been appointed to serve as the investigator in charge, a preliminary report is due within 30 days.
Today marks the NTSB’s first full day onsite, having stood back last night to allow the responders to perform “their important safety mission” – a search and rescue operation which, following the Washington DC fire chief’s statement this morning, has since switched to a recovery operation. Around 50 NTSB personnel are currently deployed to the site, augmented by colleagues at the Board’s headquarters and laboratories.
Although the flight data recorders have not yet been recovered from the water, the NTSB feels “comfortable and confident” it will be able to do so, with the NTSB having a “great process” to make sure that perishable evidence is maintained. The Sikorsky’s recording devices will also be read either by the DoD or the NTSB. “We have a good starting with [the DoD], and we’ve already made agreements to be able to do that,” continued the NTSB.
Having briefed the US president Donald Trump, vice president VD Vance, transportation secretary Sean Duffy and acting administrator of the FAA Chris Rosello earlier this afternoon, Homendy again stressed the significance of a “tremendous… government effort” in terms of co-ordination and co-operation.
“We will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we are here on scene, nor will we speculate about what may have caused this accident,” confirmed NTSB boardmember and investigation spokesperson Todd Imman – adding that investigatory teams will be on scene “as long as it takes”.
Organisational work has been undergoing today to establish parties pertaining to the investigation, with PSA Airlines, GE Aerospace, Sikorsky, the FAA, NACTA (representing air traffic controllers), ALPA (representing civilian pilots), the US Army, AFA (representing the flight attendants) and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada already identified. These, continued Imman, will “provide technical expertise and relevant information supporting the development of the best possible factual record” – cautioning that the above parties will not be able to talk publicly about ongoing investigations without the express consent of the NTSB.
Specific working groups are also being established to analyse key elements of the crash’s context, including in the areas of operations, structures, powerplants, ATC, systems, survival factors, and helicopter. A human performance group will also encompass elements of operations, helicopter and ATC analysis.
Asked the NTSB’s perspective on President Trump’s baseless speculation that the tragedy could have been caused by diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies at the FAA, Homendy asserted that – as in any investigation – the NTSB will “look at the human, the machine and the environment” as detailed in the working groups above.
With the DC medical examiner yet to publicly release the names of those who lost their lives, the NTSB’s Family Assistance Group is already working with those affected, with a family briefing scheduled for later today.
However, although the ongoing investigation is likely to take time – with the NTSB “known as the gold standard” for its thorough, impartial and insightful analysis – “I’d also like to reiterate, if we find something that is a significant issue that warrants immediate attention, we will not hesitate to make those recommendations and make them public,” continued Imman.
“Loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the United States, and our heart-filled sorrow goes out to everyone,” said Imman, visibly emotional. Homendy added: “We do have a lot of information, but we will need some time to verify that”.